Pope trip to Turkey fraught with risk

Past remarks haunt him in Muslim nation

ANKARA, Turkey — His predecessor was famous for his globetrotting, but Pope Benedict XVI is about to embark on a journey that is as fraught and risky as any undertaken by Pope John Paul II.

The pontiff is scheduled to land in the Turkish capital Tuesday, the first stop on a four-day visit to this overwhelmingly Muslim nation on Europe's doorstep.

Although the trip was scheduled months ago, it arrives at a particularly delicate moment in the Vatican's relations with the Islamic world--a moment so laden with political peril that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided only Monday that he would greet the pope after planning to be out of town.

Blunt words about Islam and violence and the 79-year-old pontiff's strong views on Turkey's unsuitability for European Union membership are sure to guarantee him a chilly if not openly hostile reception.

On Sunday, more 20,000 protesters gathered in Istanbul to demonstrate against the papal visit. They chanted "No to the pope!" and carried posters that depicted the pontiff as a fork-tongued serpent.

A pulp thriller called "Attack on the Pope: Who Will Kill the Pope in Istanbul?" has suddenly become a minor best seller in Turkey's largest city. Mindful that the last person who actually tried to assassinate a pope was a Turk working for the Bulgarian secret police, the Vatican said there would be no "popemobile" parades on this visit. There will, however, be 20,000 police on the streets of Istanbul.

Sparking a fury

Back in September, during a lecture at University of Regensburg in his native Bavaria, Pope Benedict ignited a furious controversy when he quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor who said that most of the Prophet Muhammad's contributions to religion were "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

The pope's use of the quote was roundly condemned by leaders of Muslim nations, including Erdogan, who called the words "ugly and unfortunate." At least two Muslim clerics called for the pontiff's death.

As the controversy spread, a nun was murdered in Somalia, Christians were attacked in Iraq and churches were burned in the West Bank. Outside London's Westminster Cathedral, protesters carried signs that said "May Allah Curse the Pope."

In response, Pope Benedict issued an unprecedented apology, but not a retraction.

Another touchy issue between the Vatican and the Turks is the pope's view, articulated while he still was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, that it would be a "mistake" to allow Turkey to join the European Union.

"Europe is a cultural and not a geographical continent," he said in a 2004 interview. "Turkey always represented another continent throughout history, in permanent contrast with Europe."

Little wonder then that Erdogan, who heads a moderate Islamist party, planned to be out of town during the papal visit. But Erdogan, perhaps realizing that snubbing the pope would not do much for Turkey's image in Brussels, changed his plans Monday and will now greet the pontiff at the Ankara airport before heading off to a NATO summit in Latvia.

Pope John Paul II could draw large and friendly crowds even when people didn't particularly like what he had to tell them. Pope Benedict has not yet shown he has that gift.

"There's a lot of concern about his coming. We don't know what to expect," said Binnaz Toprak, a political scientist at Bosphorus University in Istanbul.

After paying his respects at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey and an ardent secularist, the pope will be formally welcomed Tuesday by Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, whose post is largely ceremonial. He will then meet Ali Bardakoglu, head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate.

Bardakoglu emerged as one of the pope's sharpest critics after the Regensburg flap, and in what could turn out to be the pivotal moment of the trip, Pope Benedict is scheduled to give a speech at the ministry that presides over religious life in this country of 70 million Muslims and a shrinking Christian population of about 100,000.

What are the expectations?

Will the pope use it as an occasion for more blunt talk about Islam's problem with violent extremists? Will he challenge the political and religious leaders in Muslim countries to give their Christian minorities the same kind of freedom that Muslims demand for themselves in the West?

Some Catholic commentators hope so, but it probably is not in the cards.

"I think he has already said what he wanted to say," said Rev. John Wauck, a professor at the Santa Croce Pontifical University in Rome. "At this point, saying as little as possible is probably the most prudent thing."

Wauck said he expects a low-key visit.

"The Vatican is clearly not trying to play it up. I think they are happy for it to happen, and they will be happy for it to become part of the past," he said.